Is in-play betting too big for banning?

In-play betting has come in for a lot of stick lately from political pundits, anti-gambling bodies and others who believe that it presents an increased danger of corruption in sports, but the pastime has become too lucrative and too popular with punters to be banned, an expert said this week.

Jack Anderson, a law professor at Queen’s University in Belfast, who has carried out research into gambling-led corruption in sport, contends that even claims of match-fixing in high-profile sports will not lead to a change in the types of betting markets available.

He believes that in-play betting – which allows users to gamble on markets such as the next booking and number of corners – makes so much money that leading bookmakers would never allow it to be outlawed, the publication Omnisport reports.

Anderson says that bookies have too much to lose not to act against suspicious betting patterns, adding that calls for a ban are unlikely to be heeded.

“The regulated betting companies will not permit that to happen. There’s too much money in the gambling market. Regulated bookies will be very wary of unusual betting patterns on an unusual event. They’ll be extremely aware of that.

“They are very risk averse. They are the front line and they would be able to spot and shut these down.”

Anderson believes that well run and nationally regulated betting companies are not the threat…smaller sports betting operators in poorly or non-regulated markets are at the root of the problem, many of them in Asia and presenting legal and practical problems when it comes to blocking access.

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